Cocytius antaeus

Giant sphinx
Cocytius antaeus, adult
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Cocytius
Species: C. antaeus
Binomial name
Cocytius antaeus
(Drury, 1773)[1]
Synonyms
  • Sphinx antaeus Drury, 1773
  • Sphinx annonae Shaw, 1802
  • Sphinx hydaspus Cramer, 1777
  • Sphinx iatrophae Fabricius, 1775
  • Sphinx medor Stoll, 1782
  • Amphonyx tapayusa Moore, 1883
  • Cocytius henrici Pinchon, 1969

Cocytius antaeus (giant sphinx) is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is found from Brazil through Central America and into the southern parts of Texas and Florida in the United States.

The wingspan is 126–178 mm. Very rare in North America, it is the only insect in the continent with a long enough proboscis to pollinate the similarly rare ghost orchid.

The larvae feed on Annona glabra, Annona reticulata, Annona purpurea, Annona holosericea and Rollinia membranacea.[2]

References

  1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  2. "Silkmoths". Silkmoths.bizland.com. 2011-01-31. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-11-01.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.